General
mop-up
What does mop-up mean?
The final phase of a wildland fire: walking the cooled black inside the containment line, digging up smoldering stumps and root systems, stirring ash piles, and drowning every last hot spot so nothing creeps back across the line and restarts the fire. Days of cold, wet, sooty work with a piss-pump and a hand tool — no glory, all grind. The structural equivalent is called "overhaul."
"Crew's been on mop-up for three days — they're pulling stumps a hundred feet inside the line and still finding heat."
Origin
US wildland firefighting terminology, in the NWCG glossary; from the general English sense of "mop up" meaning to finish off remaining work.
Frequently asked questions
What does mop-up mean in firefighting?
Mop-up is the boring, miserable work of going over a fire scene to make sure the fire actually stays out.
How do you use mop-up in a sentence?
"The flames are out, but we've got hours of mop-up ahead of us."
Study it as flashcards or scroll it in Vocabulary Flow — saved to your collection.
